Please Help Me Build a Gaming PC

Lthe frost on 06/06/2015 - 11:28

Hi guys,

Last weekend, on the topic Which Gaming System Should I Buy?, @The Land of Smeg, @infinite, @JackDownAHill, @cheesecactus, @lostn all gave great advice on building a PC. Well, throughout the week, I've been thinking about this, and have decided I'm going to do it. No more Xbox or PS for me. (Keeping my Wii U and loving it.)

So now I've used PC part picker and posted this on /r/buildapc/, but I wanted to ask those PC gamers on Ozbargain because I think you can give great advice, knowing the bargains that regularly appear on this site. I have no idea if posting on here and there is frowned upon, but I thought it can't hurt to try, as you guys said you'd be willing to help ask.

Anyway, here are some of the answers I've used for the reddit forum:

What is your intended use for this build?

To replace my Xbox 360 as a gaming system. It will go next to my TV, be joined to my 5.1" surround system, and I will use a Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller the most, depending on the game. I would like something that will end up being cheaper than a console over the life of the system. The Xbox One and PS4 don't really impress. I play about 5-10 AAA games and 10-15 indies per year, I think. I know games will be cheaper on PC, but am trying to balance a system that will last a long time with minimal upgrades that isn't too expensive. I'm happy to replace things down the track but only when really needed to keep up with new games.

If gaming, what kind of performance are you looking for?

It will be under my 1080p 40" TV, so no need for 4K gaming. I'd like to run most things at high or better. I'm used to the Xbox 360 and Wii U, and films, so 30fps+ is fine. Ideally it will last 5-6 years playing most games well, with a couple of upgrades if needed. I don't like FPS or games with guns, but like action adventure games like the Assassin's Creed series, Dishonoured, Shadow of Mordor, Bayonetta, Life Is Strange are examples of games I like. Single-player mainly.

What is your budget?

$800-$1000, not over.

Post a draft of your potential build here

I know that I chose build help, that's because I'm really unsure about a lot of these. Please have a look at my thoughts at the bottom.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type Item Price
CPU Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor $248.00 @ IJK
Motherboard ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $109.00 @ CPL Online
Memory Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $69.00 @ Centre Com
Storage Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $119.00 @ Centre Com
Video Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card $279.00 @ CPL Online
Case Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case $78.00 @ PCCaseGear
Power Supply Cooler Master 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply $99.00 @ CPL Online
Wireless Network Adapter Edimax EW-7811UTC 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter $29.00 @ PCCaseGear
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total $1030.00
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-06 10:39 AEST+1000

Provide any additional details you wish below.

This is the first PC I've built in 10 years, and only my third in total, so there's much I am not sure about. Here are some thoughts and questions:

  • CPU: For the price, Intel seems to work better than AMD for some games like GTA (even though that's not a game I'll play) so I went with that.

  • Mobo: I really don't know, but I want a smaller case, so I went with micro ATX. ASRock seems alright. Most mobos don't have wifi built in and my router's in a different room so I got the adapter as a PCI but would like to know if anyone.

  • Storage: I have 3TB in a NAS so I don't think I need an HDD. 240GB seems to be the $/GB sweet spot for SSDs now. Generally I will have 1-3 single player games on the go, all installed, and a couple of multiplayer games if I like them, but other than that keep most programmes uninstalled unless I need them.

  • Video card: This is something I'm really not sure about. The R9 270x or 280 look fine, as does the 960, for my price point. I like the TressFX that will make Lara Croft's hair stand out, but other games seem to favour nVidia. 4GB of VRAM seems to show improvements on some games (the one listed is 2GB), but not many so far. In the future, will 4GB be needed for bigger textures? Will it not matter as long as I'm gaming on a 1080p screen?

  • Case: I want a small case for micro ATX. This one looks cool, but has no space for an optical drive bay. I have an external DVD-RW drive, and don't think I'd need an optical drive, even for Bluray. Never even seen a Bluray once.

  • Power supply: That one looked good because it was 80+ Gold certified. Not really sure how much of a difference it makes.

  • Total: I'm going to buy the main components not all together, but as I see them get cheaper on Ozbargain, so I expect the system to be quite a bit less than this. It also means that I'm in no rush. I plan to buy these over a few months.

Thank you so much for looking over this.

And one more question for @cheesecactus: You said students can get Win 8.1 for free? Where is this? I have only seen Win 8.1 Pro for students for $70.

Computing

Comments

  • Organised Chaos on 06/06/2015 - 15:22

    Hi,

    Your parts lists looks reasonable for the price tag, if I can make a suggestion though, Have a look at MSY, depending on where you are. They have a physical store front, which can make any warranty issues a little easier to deal with. Their prices are also pretty decent.
    I would also recommend running your parts/system list through this website - http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine Will give you a good idea of the requirements of your system as far as a PSU goes. I'd generally recommend at least a 500W unit just due to your graphics card requirements. A modular power supply is a great idea in a smaller case, you only have to connect/use the cables you need, a great space saver.
    I'd also consider decent cooling so you will want at least 1-2 fans in the case.
    Measure up your case, I've got a Thermaltake Docker and a GTX760, it's a tight fit, smaller cases will make it harder to fit a decent length card.
    A 4GB card can in some cases show minimal performance increases over a 2GB card and you're simply paying for the bigger card for ego's sake.

    Hope that helps a little…. not trying to tell you how to suck eggs, just a different person's view

    • the frost on 06/06/2015 - 20:44

      Thanks OC. There is plenty of MSY around me. They are who I'd go with if I get the parts all together. But given that every time they're overworked, stressed out, kind of rude and will only really help you if you already know what part you want, I'm not sure they'd answer my queries for warranty.

      The PC Part Picker website said my power is up to 278W, so that's why I thought a 450W one would work. I'm happy to change it if needed. Good point about modular power supply, I'll get one of them I think. And more fans. But I still want it to be quiet. My first Xbox 360 was loud, though the Xbox 360 S was totally quiet, so I'd like something that quiet if possible.

      Good point about the size. This Gigabyte card looks short at 181mm long, and the case allows up to 350mm long cards, so it should be totally fine. Yeah a friend said that GTA V was using all of his card's 4GB VRAM so I thought it might be better for future releases but you seem to think it unnecessary. It could save me a lot, so I think I'll follow that advice.

      Your view is very valuable. Thanks.

    • the frost on 07/06/2015 - 09:35

      Wow. I didn't expect that. I guess the main reason is the additional VRAM? I like the better power consumption of the 960 but 8.6 to 10.0 performance is something to consider, surely. Thanks.

  • IceCreamBandit on 07/06/2015 - 09:11

    Apologies in advance for the long post, but I do hope this response is useful…

    I'm happy to replace things down the track but only when really needed to keep up with new games.
    I'd like to run most things at high or better
    Ideally it will last 5-6 years playing most games well

    Most of your build seem OK for the above goals, but your GPU won't last more than 2-3 if you're still looking to play AAA titles at high settings with 30+ fps. The limited VRAM will hold you back sooner rather than later, with many games already using 3GB+ of VRAM at higher settings. Older games will run fine with high settings and 30+ fps, but there isn't much more wiggle room in your budget so your goals may have to change instead.

    Some benchmarks for the GTX 960 can be found here and here. A 4GB version of the 960 seems to have mixed performance depending on how games are designed to use VRAM, but the $100 price difference against the 2GB means it's probably not worth the extra money. Comparison of the 4GB vs 2GB here

    In the future, will 4GB be needed for bigger textures? Will it not matter as long as I'm gaming on a 1080p screen?

    Definite yes. I'm gaming on a 1080p screen and using ~3.3GB VRAM on GTA V on high settings (using a GTX 970)

    Power supply: That one looked good because it was 80+ Gold certified. Not really sure how much of a difference it makes.

    Use this calculator to help with your power usage. Using your planned build, it recommends at least 300W. If you're planning to upgrade your GPU later on, I'd recommend at least 500W. Just stick with major brands (Seasonic, Corsair, XFX, EVGA etc.) to ensure reliability and you should be okay.

    Total: I'm going to buy the main components not all together, but as I see them get cheaper on Ozbargain

    Staticice is your friend. Use that to check for cheapest prices and go local (driving distance) to save on shipping and warranty hassles.

    You said students can get Win 8.1 for free?

    Certain institutions may get it for free, my brother got Win 7 and 8.1 keys when he finished high school I think to go with his DER laptop. If you want a cheap copy and don't mind downloading and loading an ISO onto a USB or disc (assuming you have an old disc drive to use just for installation) then check out reddit's "Microsoft Software Swap". It is a moderated forum where people buy keys in bulk from Microsoft and sell them at decent prices. Cheapest Win 8 is $10 USD, Win 8.1 $15 USD from the seller s5ean and this is his store page. Just make a reddit account, PM him asking for your product, he sends an invoice, pay by PayPal, and he will PM the key within minutes. I've purchased copies of Office and Windows from this seller with no issues. All instructions, links to ISO files are all on the store page and are fairly straight forward. There is even a confirmed trades thread if you want more info about reliable sellers. This could end up saving you a fair bit as it has for me compared to local retail prices.

    Hope this helps!

    • the frost on 07/06/2015 - 10:16

      Thanks IceCreamBandit. My post was long so I appreciate the long response.

      I think I might wait a bit for a 4GB 960 or 970 to come down in price then. Like I said, I've got a bit of time before I need to get it. I've still got a bit of a pile of shame on the Wii U, and also I have some old PC games that would run just fine on my laptops with integrated graphics. They can tide me over until the time is right, using staticice and Ozbargain alerts.

      The PSU calculator said it will use 360W (I added a couple of fans first) so yeah 600W will be a good way to go.

      I see about the Windows keys. Well, that's good. I'll get one and upgrade it to Windows 10 so it doesn't matter which of those versions to get.

      Thanks a lot!

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